The Stockton Heat were a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

team in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...

(AHL) that played from 2015 to 2022. The team was based in Stockton, California, and was affiliated with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL)

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are the third major professional ice hockey te ...

. The Heat played its home games at Stockton Arena. It was a relocation of the

Adirondack Flames The Adirondack Flames were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team was based in Glens Falls, New York, and played at the 4,794 seat Glens Falls Civic Center. They were the top affiliate of the Calgary Flames o ...

, joining four other relocated AHL franchises in California that formed the basis for a Pacific Division following the 2014–15 season. The Heat replaced the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

's Stockton Thunder, which played from 2005 until 2015, after which they moved to

Glens Falls, New York Glens Falls is a City (New York), city in Warren County, New York, Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls, New York metropolitan area, Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,7 ...

, where the franchise became the Adirondack Thunder. After the 2021–22 season, the Heat would be relocated to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, and would become the

Calgary Wranglers The Calgary Wranglers are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, that began play in the 2022–23 American Hockey League (AHL) season. The team plays at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the home of their NHL affiliate team, the Calgary ...

. The team had played the entire 2021–22 season in Calgary due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

restricting cross-border travel.

History

On January 29, 2015, the Calgary Flames announced that they would be moving their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Flames, to Stockton as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division. The team held a name-the-team contest and announced the five finalists as the Blaze, Fire, Heat, Inferno and Scorch on February 24, 2015. The winning name was announced by the Calgary Flames on March 11. In support of the new division's first season, the AHL played an outdoor game hosted by the Heat. The game, called the Golden State Hockey Rush, was the first AHL outdoor game to be held in California at Raley Field in West Sacramento on December 18, 2015. The Heat defeated the

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their hom ...

3–2 in front of 9,357 fans. The

2019–20 AHL season The 2019–20 AHL season was the 84th season of the American Hockey League. The regular season began October 4, 2019, and was officially cancelled on May 11, 2020. The 2020 Calder Cup playoffs, which was also cancelled, would have followed the c ...

was curtailed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

while Stockton was in third place in the Pacific Division and no playoffs were held. The Heat's initial five-year lease with the city to use Stockton Arena expired, but a one-season extension was signed in February 2020. The start of the 2020–21 AHL season was then postponed and eventually led to the creation of temporary Canadian Division due to border crossing restrictions amidst the ongoing pandemic. Due to the Heat being separated from its parent team by the border, the team was relocated for the shortened season to

and shared the Flames' home arena, Scotiabank Saddledome and played only against other Canadian-based AHL teams. On May 23, 2022, the Calgary Flames announced the relocation of the Heat, to Calgary, starting in the 2022-23 season. On June 14, 2022, the Heat played their final game, losing to the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals of the 2022 Calder Cup playoffs.

Season-by-season results

Players

Team captains

* Aaron Johnson, 2015–16 *

Mike Angelidis Mike Angelidis (born June 27, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who last played with HCB South Tyrol in the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL). He has formerly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Tampa Bay Light ...

, 2016–17 *

Rod Pelley Rod Pelley (born September 1, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. After his collegiate career, Pelley signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Devils, and was with the organization from 2006 to 2011. He was traded to the ...

, 2017–18 * Byron Froese, 2019–2022

Team records and leaders

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers for the Stockton Heat during their tenure in the AHL. ''Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;''

References

{{Defunct AHL Calgary Flames minor league affiliates Ice hockey teams in California Sports in Stockton, California Ice hockey clubs established in 2015 2015 establishments in California